Depression's Not A Good Look On You
by the-real-jared-kleinman
Summary: All it takes is one step, just one and you'll be free, Dipper.- After Dipper attempts suicide, he is comforted by the demon of dreams, Bill Cipher. The demon offers him a deal, and like a fool, he accepts; and now he's bound to Cipher, mind, body, and soul. While in this strange companionship, is it even possible to keep himself sane?


"Just one step, just one and all this can stop. You can stop this pretending, you can make it so Grunkle Stan doesn't have to look after you, and Mabel can hang out with her friends without you holding her back. So just... _jump._ "

He stepped off the edge of the cliff face, relishing in the feeling of his stomac in churning and wind rushing through his hair- until he was suddenly caught by a pair of arms, slowing his descent.

 _'What? Who could've-'_ He opened his eyes to find that he was being held bridal-style by a man with bright gold hair, an equally gold slitted eye (the other eye covered both by a black eye patch and his hair) and a gold-and-black brick-patterned vest over a black dress shirt, gold bowtie included.

"Pinetree, Pinetree, Pinetree, whatever am I going to do with you?" the stranger asked, shaking his head slowly as they gently landed on the ground.

"Bill?" he asked, as he was set down softly on the grass, only then noticing the greyscale of the wilderness around them.

"The one and only, Pinetree!" Bill exclaimed, floating back up in the air and reclining upside down, so Bill's face was near him.

"You could stand to learn my name, you know." he huffed.

"I know your name, Mason Dieterich Pines. I know everything about you. I know all the events that transpired the date of you and your sister's birth, how you just barely made it out, let alone alive. There's a universe where you don't, where the cipher's not complete, but that's not this one! This is the one where you killed your mother during childbirth, Dipper. I know, and I remember." Bill's eye had flickered with the images as he spoke, eventually changing back to their original feline appearance.

"Two questions: One, why are you human? And two: why'd you stop me?" Dipper demanded. He crossed his arms defensively and tapped his foot.

"One, because my forms are infinite, but I thought this one would set you most at ease. And two, I figured if you thought your life was worthless, why not give it to me? I won't do anything with you until you give it up to me, but until you do, I'll teach you magic and things like that. Whaddya say, Pinetree?"

"What do you mean, I give you my life?" Dipper narrowed his eyes skeptically.

"You can't kill yourself. Harm is fine, but nothing that leads to death. And, once you've said I can, I get full access to you, mind, body, and soul. You get to live forever, to have a purpose, and later, to get revenge. You could have everything you'd always wanted, from fame, to fortune, to just not being picked on or ignored again. But only after you give me the go ahead, of your own full consent."

"Why would you give me something like this?"

"I can say this with absolute certainty, so no doubting me. I have grown fascinated with you. I saw the date of your birth, when you had just barely survived. I watched you through your whole life, watched you struggle, fail, never give up. Until you did. The day I went into your great unkle's mind and you followed. Something happened, and I didn't see it, but that day you broke. You broke yourself into little pieces, and that part of you was more fascinating than the creation of the cosmos itself, and I've gotten addicted to it. I don't want it to stop. So instead, I'll give you a way to never stop, to heal your hurt, to do all you ever wanted."

"So you basically fell in love with me in your incredibly creepy way."

"Sort of. Anything that happens in front of a triangle symbol, no matter how large, small, visible, or invisible, I can see. The doctor's lanyard had a triangle pattern on it, as did the wallpaper. I had a great view. So did I during most of your childhood, and your teen years, until you came here, and I only had 17. But I dodon't just watch you, my powers make me see everything, at all times throughout space and time, every universe, every place, every moment. I exist everywhere and nowhere at once, and it's driven me quite insane, but you're special. One in a million, quite literally." Bill shrugged. "You are one out of every million gifted Humans who was Gifted, capital G. You could see magic creatures, and interact with magic in a way others couldn't. Being an extension of you, your sister can see the creatures too, but she'll never have the same affinity for magic."

"So I can do magic, and that caught your interest. That it?"

Bill shrugged again. "More or less. And the Ursa on your forehead. You're gifted with Sight too, capital S. Meaning you can see magic, not just use it."

"I get it. I'll do your deal, but no matter what happens, my sister won't be hurt."

Dipper held out his hand.

"Of course! If she ever became a problem, I was just planning on locking her in a bubble of all her hopes and dreams. She'd be happy forever."

Bill shook it.

Neon blue fire enveloped their hands, and Dipper woke up at the bottom of the cliff, completely fine. He stood up, and straightened his long sleeves.

"Hey, kid, you're awake." a voice called from his left, and he turned to see a semi-transparent Bill floating there. "Now don't look surprised! Nobody can see me but you, and maybe Sixer once gets back from portalhopping. But with the metal plate, anything's possible."

"So, d'you know which way back to the Shack? I would like to get back before Mabel worries about me, and her show ends in ten minutes." Dipper asked, itching the crook of his elbow.

"Ah, the show where alternate me tries _that_ tactic to stop the end of the end. Yeah, they're just doing th he finale, and it won't be enough for Puppet, so he'll break your sister's heart... again. Follow me, Pinetree!"

And with that, Bill was off, float-walking into the woods with Dipper hot on his heels.


End file.
